Aluminum and H2O

Has anyone ever done experiments with hydrolosis. I am interested in figureing out if aluminum would split h20 using 40,000 hz. I have tried with the old stainless steel and it does not produce enough output.

You mean to say you want to split a compound containing aluminum using water. IF you are looking to split the water, add sodium sulfate.

Beer_Guy was saying in another post that Al did increase the rxn rate by quite a bit. Any ionic salt will do really (table salt will increase the rate) just the salt conducts in the water (split up into Na plus and Cl minus ions that carry charge0
). frequency apparently makes a difference but dunno what to use really.

You can do it with a relativiely small voltage and current, even on dc, using normal electrode set up, it does work.

[edit on 4/3/06 by Shakeyjc]

Why would you use stainless steel?
You'd be better off using rusted Iron.
Aluminium will work but I'm not sure how much energy is required.

You should check out the hydrogen DVDs from knowledge publications if you're really interested in hydrogen. The ones I bought were well worth the money.

knowledgepublications.com



[edit on 4-3-2006 by AceOfBase]

Using Single walled nanotube electrodes roughly doubles the efficiency of H2O Electrolysis.

I was thinking to sandwich two layers of aluminum foil together with wax paper in between like those old capacitors and rolling it. Then dunking it into water and giving a dc charge (my supply only goes to 30v / 3 amps. I wanted to
use aluminum because is has a high resistance. I read some where that
was better then steel when splitting h2o.

Originally posted by sardion2000
Using Single walled nanotube electrodes roughly doubles the efficiency of H2O Electrolysis.

Isn't that very very expensive? Besides, where is the common man gonna find nanotubes? Can't exactly get them from the hardware store

Originally posted by imbalanced
I was thinking to sandwich two layers of aluminum foil together with wax paper in between like those old capacitors and rolling it. Then dunking it into water and giving a dc charge (my supply only goes to 30v / 3 amps. I wanted to
use aluminum because is has a high resistance. I read some where that
was better then steel when splitting h2o.

I think you need aluminium oxide rather than regular aluminum foil.
I think brillo pads will also work.

If you are just looking to experiment with producing hydrogen from water you can try the experiment on this site:

California Energy Commission

Using them as electrodes wouldn't cost that much, slightly more then Tungsten electrodes. We're talking about micrograms worth, if that.

You can buy bulk, untreated nanotubes off the internet quite easily, for testing purposes. The cheapest, per gram price I've seen is 50 bucks, so the prices are finally starting to drop.

The only problem would be fixing them up to act as electrodes. When Chemists find out how to make them in larger sizes, measurable in centimeters, then it would be much easier to accomplish.

I was just throwing it out as a possibility. With that said, I still think the Hydrogen Economy is a red herring, trying to distract us from the true freedom of Plug-in Hybrids, eventually leading to full Electric Vehicles. But that's offtopic.

Ya I have produced H in a similar fashion, just looking to improve output.
Some people say use Alum, some say use a magic voltage or magic frequency,
im trying to see what works best. As of today, I still get the most production
from steel plates. But water turns green, i am assuming thats the iron or copper in the steel coming out.

Ok, I am confused...

Are you asking what solid medium you can pass an electric current through or a liquid medium?

Hydrolosis. Looking for the most efficient way of doing it.

Originally posted by imbalanced
Hydrolosis. Looking for the most efficient way of doing it.

This is what I am confused about. You said in your original post that you want to split water. That is not hydrolysis, that is electrolysis. Anyway, seeing as how you want to split the water, you have to add an electrolyte to the water, (pure) water does not conduct electricity. And you would be best off using copper rather than aluminum or stainless steel.

I would like to congratulate each and every one of you. This is the first thread on ATS where I have read all that has been written and not understood one friggin' word of what is being discussed.

Still, I hope you get done whatever it is that you are talking about

wupy

adding salt is ok. but using lye or caustic soda would work better as an electrolite. it conducts electricity better

copy that.
I do mean electrolosis.
My bad.
And as far as using additives to the water I will experiment with that as well.
PS: anyone use a marx generator in combination with a similiar electrolosis production schema as mentioned above ?

Originally posted by imbalanced
copy that.
I do mean electrolosis.
My bad.
And as far as using additives to the water I will experiment with that as well.
PS: anyone use a marx generator in combination with a similiar electrolosis production schema as mentioned above ?

Actually, I wish I knew exactly what you were trying to do. If all you want to do is push electricity through water, try salt water and copper leads.

If you actually want to produce electricity, the "good ol' fashion penny shoved into a lemon" should work.

Do you want to separate the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen, I'd just use Aluminum foil strips, and add Red Devil Lye...BUT...there's a chance of explosion and serious burns since this produces heat, and Hydrogen plus Oxygen plus Heat equals B-O-O-M!

That's why the label clearly says, "DO NOT USE ON ALUMINUM PIPES!"


[edit on 25-3-2006 by Toelint]

havent tried that one yet.